1. Field
The present invention relates to a standup exercise apparatus that simulates walking and jogging with arm exercise. More particularly, the present invention relates to an exercise machine having separately supported pedals for the feet and arm exercise coordinated with the motion of the feet where the pedal stride length is determined by the movements of an operator. Crank arms are positioned behind the operator at pedal height.
2. State of the Art
The benefits of regular exercise to improve overall health, appearance and longevity are well documented in the literature. For exercise enthusiasts the search continues for safe apparatus that provides full body exercise for maximum benefit in minimum time.
Recently, a new category of exercise equipment has appeared on the commercial market called varying stride elliptical cross trainers. These cross trainers guide the feet along a closed loop shaped curve to simulate the motions of jogging and climbing with varying stride lengths. The shorter stride lengths have pedals which follow up and down curves that are generally arcuate in shape causing difficult startup. The longer stride lengths have pedals which follow closed loop curves having more of a banana shape than elliptical and the heel of the foot remains off the pedal for a significant part of the pedal cycle often resulting in numb toe. There is a need for a variable stride exercise apparatus capable of long, medium and shorter stride lengths where the pedals always follow generally elliptical curve paths with easy startup and where the heel of the foot remains in contact with the pedal for most of the pedal cycle.
Varying stride elliptical cross trainers are shown without cams in Rodgers, Jr. U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,828,698 and 7,708,669 as well as U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,520,839 and 7,530,926 which show a pendulum striding exercise apparatus having a foot support members hung from a generally horizontal beam pivoted to achieve the varying stride length pedal curves. Rodgers, Jr. in U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,708,668 and 7,507,184 show exercise apparatus with flexible support elements having varying stride lengths. Miller in U.S. Patent Applications 2009/0105049 and 2011/0172062 also shows an exercise apparatus having varying stride lengths. Eschenbach in U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,841,968, 7,938,754 and 8,029,416 shows user defined motion elliptical exercise apparatus with a default elongate curve for easy starting. Chuang et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 7,608,018 shows a front drive user defined motion elliptical apparatus. Grind in U.S. Pat. No. 7,922,625 shows an adaptive motion exercise device with oscillating track. Ohrt et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 7,942,787 shows several adaptive motion rear drive exercise apparatus. Eschenbach in U.S. Pat. No. 8,668,627 shows a rear drive adaptive motion exercise device which does not have a stepping function.
It is an objective of this invention to provide an exercise apparatus having varying stride lengths determined by the movement of an operator with a default stepping mode for easy starting. A further objective is an exercise apparatus having varying stride lengths where the pedals follow elliptical curves for short, medium and long stride lengths where the heel of the foot remains in contact with the pedal throughout most of the pedal cycle.